3 ms·

White House unable to confirm if Congress briefed on NSA spy program

39 points by Suraj-Sun 13y ago

D9u 13y ago
One hand doesn't know what the other is doing and our President has the gall to espouse "accountability?" This is typical bluster and buck-passing, and I am disgusted!
MattyRad 13y ago
It's disheartening that politicians can barely confirm whether they even know what is going on (i.e. what they vote for on our behalf), let alone the have the capacity to grasp the scale of the surveillance and its (eventual) misuse. It takes at least a modest understanding of math and computers to understand the gravity of such a dragnet, which is very discouraging to me. And when white house reps defend themselves with gems like, "informing people about false claims isn't necessarily what we do," is even less reassuring. On that note, an interesting article on acm.org was recently posted about about how politics, and not encryption, is the only way to make it change. I think the reason why a lot of us invest so heavily in encryption solutions is because the above makes us so incredibly cynical that politics will achieve anything.
- Wingman4l7 13y ago
  > I think the reason why a lot of us invest so heavily in encryption solutions is because the above makes us so incredibly cynical that politics will achieve anything. That approach is very dangerous. Basically, if we don't push for political change and just resort to highly technical fixes, then that leaves 95% of the rest of the population out in the cold -- and if [most] everyone else isn't using crypto, how are we supposed to communicate with them? I credit Cory Doctorow with an excellent explanation of this, which he coins "nerd determinism" in his piece "The problem with nerd politics": http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/14/problem-nerd-politics http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/14/problem-ner... (a direct link to the podcast of said column, for those on the go: http://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_229/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_229_The_problem_with_nerd_politics.mp3 http://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_229/Cory_D... )
  - MattyRad 13y ago
    Yes, I agree. I wasn't saying that we should pursue nerd determinism, only that cynicism with such a political system makes some us more inclined to find non-political solutions. But the unfortunate reality is that it is not enough, and we need to get involved in politics, however painful that may be.
Vivtek 13y ago
Drip, drip, drip...
- spikels 13y ago
  It's not true, it's not true, it's not true, it's old news
  - Vivtek 13y ago
    Old news in a new context is tantamount to fresh.
revelation 13y ago
I always love those recordings. Few people are able to keep up the bullshit and cognitive dissonance required to maintain the current governments position in an even remotely logical and consistent way when faced with on demand questions, so they quickly revert to reiterating canned answers or even just missing the whole question as their brain responds to the information overload with a simple backtracking to what they know best (which, it turns out, is the canned answers, not actual knowledge of the program asked about). The considerable stress this causes then further produces nonsense side statements, like "informing people about false claims isn't necessarily what we do".
spikels 13y ago
Snowden/Greenwald are doing a great job keeping this issue alive. Much like if you tell a lie enough times people believe it: if you tell the truth enough times people remember it. Everyone who cares about this issue should do what they can to make sure as many people as possible understand what is going one. Just keep bringing it up like this reporter did today. Otherwise it will just slip into the background and we will be stuck with it for a very long time.

39 points by Suraj-Sun 13y ago

D9u 13y ago

One hand doesn't know what the other is doing and our President has the gall to espouse "accountability?" This is typical bluster and buck-passing, and I am disgusted!

MattyRad 13y ago

It's disheartening that politicians can barely confirm whether they even know what is going on (i.e. what they vote for on our behalf), let alone the have the capacity to grasp the scale of the surveillance and its (eventual) misuse. It takes at least a modest understanding of math and computers to understand the gravity of such a dragnet, which is very discouraging to me. And when white house reps defend themselves with gems like, "informing people about false claims isn't necessarily what we do," is even less reassuring. On that note, an interesting article on acm.org was recently posted about about how politics, and not encryption, is the only way to make it change. I think the reason why a lot of us invest so heavily in encryption solutions is because the above makes us so incredibly cynical that politics will achieve anything.

Wingman4l7 13y ago
> I think the reason why a lot of us invest so heavily in encryption solutions is because the above makes us so incredibly cynical that politics will achieve anything. That approach is very dangerous. Basically, if we don't push for political change and just resort to highly technical fixes, then that leaves 95% of the rest of the population out in the cold -- and if [most] everyone else isn't using crypto, how are we supposed to communicate with them? I credit Cory Doctorow with an excellent explanation of this, which he coins "nerd determinism" in his piece "The problem with nerd politics": http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/14/problem-nerd-politics http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/14/problem-ner... (a direct link to the podcast of said column, for those on the go: http://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_229/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_229_The_problem_with_nerd_politics.mp3 http://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_229/Cory_D... )
- MattyRad 13y ago
  Yes, I agree. I wasn't saying that we should pursue nerd determinism, only that cynicism with such a political system makes some us more inclined to find non-political solutions. But the unfortunate reality is that it is not enough, and we need to get involved in politics, however painful that may be.

Vivtek 13y ago

Drip, drip, drip...

spikels 13y ago
It's not true, it's not true, it's not true, it's old news
- Vivtek 13y ago
  Old news in a new context is tantamount to fresh.

revelation 13y ago

I always love those recordings. Few people are able to keep up the bullshit and cognitive dissonance required to maintain the current governments position in an even remotely logical and consistent way when faced with on demand questions, so they quickly revert to reiterating canned answers or even just missing the whole question as their brain responds to the information overload with a simple backtracking to what they know best (which, it turns out, is the canned answers, not actual knowledge of the program asked about). The considerable stress this causes then further produces nonsense side statements, like "informing people about false claims isn't necessarily what we do".

spikels 13y ago

Snowden/Greenwald are doing a great job keeping this issue alive. Much like if you tell a lie enough times people believe it: if you tell the truth enough times people remember it. Everyone who cares about this issue should do what they can to make sure as many people as possible understand what is going one. Just keep bringing it up like this reporter did today. Otherwise it will just slip into the background and we will be stuck with it for a very long time.